


A Job Interview

by kari_aramiga



Category: Half-Life
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:08:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24511309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kari_aramiga/pseuds/kari_aramiga
Summary: Not long after the 7-hour war, Judith Mossman tries to find herself in the new reality. Little does she know, she'll end up on The Citadel.It's a short and kind of a subtle story in Half-Life Universe. I'm polish, so I'm not a native English speaker, but I've been trying my best to make it a pleasurable read. Hope you enjoy.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 5





	A Job Interview

Meadows have blossomed in City 17. Pink wallpaper with tiny flowers seemed as fresh as the evening air. Judith ran her fingertips over the wall. Finally she found the bubble of air underneath the surface. She poked it and started to tear it off chaotically. She put the folded ball of wallpaper in her mouth and she chewed it for a long time, crouched on the floor. Outside the window the sun was shining and a distant sound of siren could have been heard.  
Roommates' voices came from behind the wall.  
"Have you found any food?"  
The man didn't even respond, he just threw something on the ground.  
"That's certainly not enough."  
"Give me a break! Just eat."  
"What about her?"  
"Listen, I've got an ill brother and I've got you. How about instead of looking after four people I'll just stick to three of 'em?"  
"Shush, she'll hear you"  
"Let her look for food herself! Since she's so smart. A doctor. Yeah, no fucking way."  
She heard them thrusting a knife into the can lids.  
"I give her a few more days."  
"Huh, I feel a bit sorry for her. Have you seen how those rags are hanging on her?"  
"Think about it this way: one mug less to feed."  
She's been sleeping for days on the floor and had no dreams. Sometimes, when she opened her eyes, she looked at the flowery wallpaper. The meadows were blossoming without any smell. The world was still spinning without her.  
"Hey, Mossman, wake up."  
One day someone shook her. That was one of her roommates.  
"Are you even still alive?"  
"Yup."  
"Your turn for a walk."  
She managed to get up somehow. She looked outside the window. It was a gray, humid evening. Judith rolled into the bathroom, then queitly crossed the living room in order not to wake up the feverish man laying on the sofa. The woman next to the front door whispered:  
"Will you make it…?"  
"Why wouldn't I? Of course I will" - Judith snarled.  
"Okay, but don't come back emptyhanded." - roommate snorted.  
The staircase made her dizzy and she staggered out into the street. Haggard silhouette of a young woman in blue uniform was going down the avenue along the buildings. She wasn't getting close to civil protection patrols. This day they weren't really paying attention to her at all. When she looked up, she saw the Citadel towering over the city, coated with white and gray clouds.  
They usually 'hunted' in the next district, where few people lived. Malicious attacks from newcomers of Xen succesfully eradicated citizens. In turn, since the rebels fortunately dealt with the monsters, civilians like them were still searching the basements and flats in the hope that something else was still left. Judith entered the square between the terraced houses and she eyed it. It was filled with broken cars, usually without wheels - somebody's must have been stealing the parts.  
One of the vehicles, blue volga caught her attention. She walked over to it and looked around, opened the door and carefully put her head into it. Then she jumped onto the torn seat and she started to search the insides. To her suprise, a bottle of vodka rolled out of the glovebox. She closed the car door.  
Judith sat with the find in her hands. Her lips were so dry that she was licking them over and over. She narrowed her eyes as if she was trying to read the Cyrillic alphabet on the label. She hesisated, but only for a moment - finally, she unscrewed the metal cap and raised the bottle to her mouth. The first sip twisted her face and she started coughing, but the next ones came in much more smoothly. Then she dropped the vodka and slumped into the seat, panting. She smiled faintly to herself.  
"Faster! Judy, come on!"  
"Pedal to the metal!" - someone screamed joyfully.  
She slammed the pedal into the floor. The roof was down, the road was empty and only golden fields of dust surrounded them. The wind was blowing through their hair. One of the passengers in the back leaned out and changed the radio station to their favourite.  
"I said: hey! What's going on?!" - they were screaming at the top of their lungs.  
She was laughing histerically.  
Time went by. It was getting darker. They stopped at a petrol station. Judith looked out the window. Thirty-story terraced houses surrounded her. Her pupils contracted in fear and a moan sank in her throat. In some windows the lights went on and off. It felt as if someone was observing her. She was almost sure of it. Suddenly, the air was torn apart by gunshots. She curled up and hugged the door, still breathing more and more heavily. The Citadel grew to enormous proportions. It looked like it was about to swallow the entire city. The images skipped before her eyes as if she was looking at a broken screen.  
"Fuck, fuck, fuck…" - she groaned, pushing her red face into her hands.  
Someone put a hand on her shoulder. It was a young woman in a flowery dress. She looked just as in the 90s.  
"Pathetic" - she said, unfastening her seatbelt.  
The she turned her head towards the people in the back. "Did you see this? She was trying to off herself again! Oh, poor you."  
"No, no, I was... Just…" - she started, but before she had a chance to finish, the girl came out of the car and slammed the door.  
"Can't you just do something right for once and fucking die?" - she shouted on the outside.  
"Oh, I'm gonna... I'm gonna...".  
She tried to sit and look out the windows again. There was this silhoulette of a man in a suit. Just in the corner of one of the windows. All of a sudden, everything took on strange, sharp contours. She looked up on the Citadel again and shouted, covering her head. The tower was falling down, casting a shadow over the city. Then everything went black.

Somebody knocked on the door. Judith opened her eyes. She was lying in the front seat in a pool of vomit. She wiped her face with her shirt. Someone was still knocking on the door. She looked out the window once again and froze. CP's eyes were watching her from behind the gas mask.  
"Get out immediately. What are you doing here?"  
She stammered, but no word came out of her mouth. The officer opened the door and grabbed her arm, then he pulled her outside.  
"Got anything?" - a friend by the building's wall called to him.  
"A woman. Seems completely drunk."  
Before she knew it, a strong hand pushed her toward the assault car. He set her down next to the vehicle. She sank to the ground and gazed at their masks in a daze.  
"What do you wanna do with her?"  
"Hey, what's your name?"  
"Mossman…" - she murmured, still trembling all over her body.  
"Hey, kid, maybe you wanna put her back on her doormat too, huh? She's probably some kind of a slut."  
She tried to roll out from under their feet, but one of the men caught her throat.  
"We'll see what you got to offer, alright?"  
"But then what?" - the calleague asked uncertainly.  
"She'll go down the sewers for a little swim."  
He released her throat and grabbed her shoulders. Judith began to scream and pull away. In the meantime he was loosening his belt, ignoring all her efforts. Then she bit him and he threw her to the ground.  
"What the fuck? Who do you think you are, hoe?!"  
The other guy pulled out a stun baton. She lifted herself on her wrists and shouted:  
"I… I've got connections!"  
The men laughed.  
"I know... I know Breen!" - she yelled and began to repeat. - "I know Breen... I know Breen…".  
"Ah, so the big guy has bimbos too? Good for him" - they said.  
"He'll kill you! I'll tell him and he will kill you! I will kill…" - her voice broke, but she kept on crying out.  
Their laughter soon began to weaken and they got anxious. They were looking at each other in confusion.  
"Okay, you know what, she's crazy" - one of them said. - "Let's leave her".  
"Wait a sec, I'm gonna check something".  
CP fastened his belt back again and got into the car. Judith was curling up in the street, trying to get away from the other guard, but he didn't have to use much force to stop her. Time was certainly not on her side - it seemed like she was going to stay there forever.  
Finally, the masked man jumped out of the assault vehicle and leaned over the woman.  
"You're lucky" - she looked at him distrustfully. - "Breen himself wants to see you. Get in. Wanted a trip? Then you'll have one".

It was like a dream for her. It could have been a nightmare though. While she was inside the Citadel, she looked around the rough walls, pushed forward by the local guards' guns. Her hands were forged. In the elevator she tried to stop gag reflexes and stagerred as if everything was spinning. Her heart was beating faster and faster as they entered higher and higher levels. Overwatch Elite soldiers, or 'the weird ones' as she would say, talked about something enthusiastically, but she wasn't able to concentrate on it.  
Finally they got off on their floor. Ahead of them was a small corridor, then a door with a huge amount of security. They tapped something on the screens and opened it.  
Then she saw a spacious office. On the concrete floor there laid  
old-fashioned rugs, on which stood an oak desk with drawers on the sides. A man seen daily on the teleprompters was bending over some papers. Wallace Breen. She flinched at the sight of him and swallowed saliva loudly. He didn't look like on the screens. Yes, his blond hair, scattered in disarray, was still graying slowly but effectively. His suit also didn't unfade, but was hanging on the chair. When he noticed them, he raised his head, got up from the desk and smiled with pity.  
"Good morning! I see I've got a guest. So that's her?"  
"Yes, just as you asked."  
"Great! You can go now, just leave her handcuffed."  
The soldiers turned and walked away mechanically. Judith dared not to move. Breen came a little closer though. He watched her with curiosity. She stared at the floor, stagerred at thin legs that were shaking visibly. Underneath the aggressively protruding collarbones there was still vomit.  
"Good morning" - he said.  
"Good morning?" - she answered with a question and bowed.  
"So you're the one bullshiting the cops that we know each other, aren't you? And from what I've heard it's not even the first time. Do I not know something? Do we actually know each other?"  
Judith looked up at him. He was standing close to her now and was smiling sarcasticly.  
"I… They've wanted to kill me. I just wanted to survive. It's hard… I raved" - she tried to explain.  
"Oh, did you? My word! But don't you think that's a bit irresponsible?"  
Before she managed to stop herself, she whispered:  
"Well, you can kiss my ass."  
Immediately she clenched her teeth, refraining from any further comment.  
"I beg your pardon? I'd rather not, thank you" - he laughed.  
"I'm sorry" - she added quickly, shrinking in fear even more.  
He raised his hand in a gesture suggesting she should shut her mouth.  
"Who are you anyway?"  
This question caused her considerable difficulties. She was already about to say something, but he changed the question:  
"Right, then maybe who were you before the war?"  
"A scientist."  
He laughed again. She moved restlessly.  
"Oh, are you kidding me?"  
"No!" - she snorted - "Doctor Judith Mossman. I applied to C-33…"  
He froze and raised his eyebrows in surprise. He thought about it, coughed and said:  
"So do you still have any ace up your sleeve? Or is that all?"  
She frowned as though she didn't understand. Then he simply stated - "Interesting."  
He looked at her again. She was shaking and bending more and more, as if her disheveled head was weighing heavily on her shoulders. He brought a chair from under the wall, put it in front of his desk and sat down in his armchair. "Here you go, please" - Breen invited her with his hand.  
She moved uncertainly and slumped into the seat with a sigh of relief - she even rolled her green eyes. She tried to sit as straightly as possible, despite her stomach still being turned upside down, and looked at him. He also looked at her thoughtfully.  
"And what shall I do with you now?" - he asked.  
She answered tiredly:  
"I just don't want to turn into those... Stalker things."  
"Do you really think I would kill you? I'm not such a sadist after all, huh?".  
She didn't deny nor confirm.  
"Where did you graduate?"  
"Uh?"  
"Which university?"  
She laughed nervously.  
"What's that supposed to be? A job interview?"  
"Maybe"  
"I studied at Yale…"  
"Finally, concrets. Any family?"  
"No, fortunately."  
He was asking about her roommates, about the life in the city. He wrote everything down on an office note in small handwriting. Just as if he was still working in Black Mesa, in far away New Mexico, where she used to drove her car. 

Back in those days when he was interviewing for the best positions in the laboratories, he used to act as if he was above all the mundane life. He eyed the applicants looking a bit disappointed and a bit strict.  
"I see you were studying on MIT, mister Freeman."  
"Yeah."  
"Are you always that silent?"  
"No, I'm…"  
"I see, I see."  
Kleiner used to bash him and say - "You're scaring them off, Wallace! What's wrong with you, people?"  
"You should've you seen those panicked faces, Isaac. Hilarious, I'm telling you…"  
"Yeah, he's right, you should have some fun from time to time. Crack a cold one with us after the job, you know?"  
"I'm too old for this, Eli…"  
In those new times, there was no need for him to act.

"You see, Mrs. Mossman, it's good to have connections" - he told her. - "Unfortunately, I usually have to sit here whole day. That's why I've got eyes and ears all around the city, in people, you understand? And since you're already here, maybe we can get something out of it, right?"  
"What?" - she asked uncertainly.  
"I mean, you could bring some news. For better maintenance. Such a slim woman! One day you'll finally collapse somewhere on the street and then it's over."  
She looked as if these words didn't reach her. However, when they did, she shook her head semi-consciously.  
"Yes, okay. Okay, okay, yes, please."  
"Then we have a deal!"  
"Where should I sign?"  
Once again he laughed.  
"It won't be necessary, you know? If it comes to anything, we'll get square with each other anyway."

"Hi, Judith, where have you been all this time?"  
Roommates let her into the flat and their eyes widened.  
"Where did you get this?" - they asked, looking at real food rations.  
"Found it".  
Since then, she has not had to rip the wallpaper off the wall anymore. She looked at herself more often in the mirror, even brushed her hair. She would wake up in the morning and go to sleep in the evening. Now she had wandered the streets with her head up high.  
Months passed. After one of her trips, she packed up and went towards Black Mesa East, leaving the pink room behind her.


End file.
